Lake Wales Church Reverses Decision to Lease Land for Medical Marijuana Facility

Tuesday

Sep 2, 2014 at 12:01 AMSep 3, 2014 at 12:03 AM

Plans to open a medical marijuana facility in Lake Wales are in danger after a nearby church reversed course on leasing land to the company pursuing the project.

By GARY WHITETHE LEDGER

LAKE WALES ­| Plans to open a medical marijuana facility in Lake Wales are in danger after a nearby church reversed course on leasing land to the company pursuing the project.The small congregation of Bethel Baptist Church voted 5-3 on Sunday to reject an offer to lease the parcel to GrowHealthy, a company that intends to create the production facility inside a former mattress factory near Lake Wales Municipal Airport. The 3.2-acre parcel is potentially crucial because of proposed state rules that would bar such operations within 1,000 feet of a church property.Those rules involve a law passed this year allowing production of a marijuana-based medication used to treat childhood epilepsy and other ailments. Executives with GrowHealthy have said they hope to win a state license to make that medicine, sometimes called Charlotte's Web.The executives said they also will cultivate marijuana more widely if Florida voters pass Amendment 2, a ballot measure requiring 60 percent approval in the Nov. 4 general election.Bethel Baptist's pastor, Marshal Kirchik, said representatives from GrowHealthy approached the church offering to lease the vacant parcel, which abuts the 33-acre property housing a former Sealy Mattress factory at 309 S. Acuff Road. Congregants voted 8-0 at the church's service Aug. 24 to accept the offer and lease the parcel.But Kirchik said Tom Averett, president of Bethel Baptist Church Inc., held off signing an agreement as planned last week. The church then scheduled an "appeal vote" for Sunday, Kirchik said. GrowHealthy CEO Don Clifford did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment on the church's vote. Averett declined to comment.

RESPONSE FROM OTHER CHURCHES, RESIDENTSIn the days after The Ledger's story published about the initial vote, Kirchik said he and church members received a flood of calls from other pastors, local residents and members of law enforcement asking them to reconsider."We were getting hits from all sides," Kirchik said. "I was getting hits from the Ridge Baptist Association, from law enforcement, from the people who run the city, all of them. A myriad of other pastors was also telling me how this is wrong and it's not Christian, it's going to open the door to all kinds of things for Polk County and even the state of Florida."Kirchik said Sunday's service drew 14 guests, and some of them urged congregants not to lease the property to GrowHealthy.That contingent included Mike Hasha, director of missions for Ridge Baptist Association, a group of 61 Southern Baptist churches in eastern Polk County. Bethel Baptist is part of the association.Hasha said he learned about the church's plans the day after the initial vote Aug. 24. "I was very concerned," Hasha said. "I was kind of late in the ball game on this. I didn't know what was going on, and I was able to talk to Pastor Marshal about the situation."Hasha said the association opposes any legalization of marijuana, even for medical use. He said member churches are independent but added, "Having membership in the association also calls for some unity within the association of our stances we take for and against certain issues."Kirchik said pastors of seven other churches, five of them in Ridge Baptist Association, attended Sunday's service. He said a representative from GrowHealthy spoke before the Aug. 24 service but no one from the company attended Sunday's gathering.Kirchik said he called Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd before the original vote to ask for advice. Judd, a leading spokesman for the Don't Let Florida Go To Pot Coalition, has spoken often to churches and civic groups, warning about what he sees as the pitfalls of Amendment 2.Kirchik said he talked to other members of the Polk Sheriff's Office before the second vote was taken, though he didn't recall their names."When I asked what the sheriff's department thought of this, Sheriff Judd's people said this was wrong, absolutely wrong," Kirchik said.Judd said Tuesday that he spoke to Kirchik before the initial vote, expressing his concerns about Amendment 2. He said he didn't talk to the pastor again before the second vote."That's the church's decision," Judd said.

PRODUCTION OF 'CHARLOTTE'S WEB'It's not clear whether GrowHealthy has actually purchased the 185,000-square-foot property. The company's website, featuring photos of the structure, says GrowHealthy "recently purchased the largest indoor medical marijuana nursery in Florida."The real estate agent handling the deal said last week the sale wasn't yet final, and he declined to comment Tuesday. No new sale of the property has yet been recorded by the Polk County Clerk's Office.Clifford told The Ledger last week that his company plans to invest $4 million in the facility. He said the operation would employ about 70 people.Gov. Rick Scott signed a law this year allowing the production and distribution of strains of marijuana low in tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the compound that produces a high. The law is intended to help an estimated 125,000 children in Florida with severe epilepsy.The medication is often called Charlotte's Web, though a Colorado company has applied for a trademark to use that name only for a particular strain of low-THC marijuana.The Florida Department of Health is scheduled to hold its next hearing Friday on the rules governing the low-THC marijuana treatment. The state is expected to set a application deadline soon for companies seeking licenses.The Florida Legislature set a target date of Jan. 1 for Florida doctors to begin ordering the low-THC marijuana for patients.

[ Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. He blogs about tourism at http://tourism.blogs.theledger.com. Follow him on Twitter @garywhite13. ]